Father’s Column – March 4, 2018

Posted on March 4, 2018

I would, first of all, like to thank all of those from Old St. Mary’s who were involved in any way with our annual fish fry. I especially thank Rogar Schneider for all of the planning and coordination. Without Rogar, and all those who assisted with coordinating or volunteering, the fish fry would not be possible. As usual, it was another great success this year. A more detailed financial report will be available in the bulletin in the coming weeks, once all of the bills have been paid. Danke!

Another quick weekly update on the status of the Catholic Ministries Appeal. As of February 26, Old St. Mary’s has pledged $5,380.00 out of a $17,154.00 goal with about 6% of the parish participating. Sacred Heart has pledged $3,655.00 out of a $7,962.00 goal with about 6% of the parish participating. We are slowly getting there. Thank you for your generosity! To donate, please remember you can visit www.catholicappeal.info. If you mail in your donation, remember that the code for Old St. Mary’s is 1841 and the code for Sacred Heart is 721.

We are now on the Third Sunday of Lent, almost to the halfway point to Easter. Remember to keep up with your Lenten penances and fasts. To help with our Lenten meditations, please find this short passage from St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s book On the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. Have a blessed week ahead!

“There was once a king, lord of many kingdoms, who had one only son, so beautiful, so holy, so amiable, that he was the delight of his father, who loved him as much as himself. This young prince had a great affection for one of his slaves; so much so that, the slave having committed a crime for which he had been condemned to death, the prince offered himself to die for the slave; the father, being jealous of justice, was satisfied to condemn his beloved son to death, in order that the slave might remain free from the punishment that he deserved: and thus the son died a malefactor’s death, and the slave was freed from punishment.

This fact, the like of which has never happened in this world, and never will happen, is related in the Gospels, where we read that the Son of God, the Lord of the universe, seeing that man was condemned to eternal death in punishment of his sins, chose to take upon himself human flesh, and thus to pay by his death the penalty due to man: He was offered because it was His own will. And his Eternal Father caused him to die upon the cross to save us miserable sinners: He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. What dost thou think, O devout soul, of this love of the Son and of the Father?”